indyfabz

bikeflights.com is a discount broker for FedEx bike shipments. I have purchased shipping through them on three occasions and it's been cheap compared to what I would have paid had I bought directly from FedEx. Back in June I shipped my large, heavy LHT from Philly to Missoula, MT for around $50 with something like $1,400 in insurance.


You will, of course, have to have the bike boxed and the entire package measured and weighed to calculate shipping. If you buy from bikeflights, they email you a FedEx shipping label. You could have a LBS box, etc., the bike, buy from bikeflights and then forward the shipping label email to the LBS.

idiotekniQues

That's a crazy story. Congrats!

jefnvk

Wow, congrats! Awesome story and ending, especially after so long!

shafter

Congratulations!!! I was afraid you would never get your bike back. One reads a lot of stories like yours, and few end as well.

WizardOfBoz

I think I used bikeflights.com for a hybrid, and for a smaller "trick" bike with 20" wheels. Worked ok, iirc. Make sure that the bike shop takes some pics of this AS they pack it, and of the box before it leaves. And when you get the box, take a pic of the package, intact, and also as you unwrap it. Turns out you need these to make a claim if there's damage.

locolobo13 

Good to hear. Congrats.

mccreadym

Thanks! I am super stoked to get it back!

Haha should be easy to throw a new waterbottle cage on... and to be honest the speedometer hadn't worked in over a year anyways so I needed to grab a new one anyways.

Thanks for the bikeflight recommendation. It looks like it will be about $60-70. I think I will have a friend drop it off at the bike shop I trust in the area and have them pack it up and ship it out.

--
MM

mccreadym

It is now in police custody. Just need to get it picked up and shipped out.

It seems I shall perhaps do some winter riding after all (it handles the snow well).

MM

02Giant 

I think you should pay the guy something for it...if he has a receipt from the Pawn Shop. He bought it legally, they sold it legally since they would have checked the serial number and since you (likely) reported the wrong number when stolen, they were legit in their actions.

Yendor72

Can you reveal the bike shop you bought it from? Sounds like a solid place.

mccreadym

I asked the detective about this last week. He said since it was stolen the guy should get his money back from the pawn shop. He said that was between the guy and the pawnshop. I got the impression the detective may not have fully believed the story.

Yes, I did give the wrong serial #, but I was given the wrong one. If I had known the correct one last year I would have gotten the bike back before I had moved (if it was really at a pawn shop). Unfortunate all around as now I have to pay to ship it.

Suffice to say having it picked up, packed, and shipped in cost is probably not that far off of the cost of what the bike should go for used. It is an 11 year old bike and the only reason it is worth the trouble is it has a lot of memories for me. My wife and I are moving this week so finances are VERY tight. I have been thinking of sending a small gift card or something as a way of thanks to the seller for cooperating with the police... but I am unsure as I have not had direct contact and it may be better to leave well enough alone. Thoughts?

MM

mccreadym

Erik's bike shop

FBinNY 

Why should the OP owe the guy anything? It was HIS stolen bike, regardless of how someone ended up with it. That's not to say the current "owner" did anything, but he does have recourse to the pawn shop, who in turn has recourse to wherever they got it. If anyone can't recover his loss from whomever, then it's his loss.

It's kind of like a fraudulent check. Imagine, you're balancing your checking a/c and find a fraudulent check that you never wrote. You call,it to the attention of your bank and they restore the dough to your a/c, and send it back to where it came from, and it's up to those people to get their money back until it finally comes to the person who took it from the criminal and eats the loss.

Maelochs

The guy who bought it from the pawn shop could be a super-nice guy who thought he got a crazy good deal on a decent bike ... or he could be the thief's third cousin, and the guy who sold the bike to the pawn shop could be his brother-in-law, and the guy who owns the pawn shop is his other sister's father-in-law.

Everybody loses out in this case ... but the OP at least gets to (essentially) buy his bike back for probably what the pawn shop sold it for.

02Giant 

Had the OP provided the correct serial number to the police when the bike was stolen, it would have never been sold by the pawn shop in the first place and the OP would have had the bike returned to him 11 years ago(or whenever it was taken to the pawn shop). The OP created the mess by providing the incorrect information.

FBinNY 

No, the thief created the mess. All that follows flows from that. The current owner has recourse to the pawn shop, which is obligated to refund his money, since the transaction was illegal. If the pawn shop refuses, their customer should prevail in small claims court.

Getting distracted by the side issue of the serial number missis the point. Consider what law would apply to provably stolen items that don't have serial numbers, or were transferred to places where the serial number wouldn't be registered either way.

I understand that the current owner probably acted in good faith, but he wouldn't be the first person who was acting in good faith and still lost out. And as I said, he has recourse, so if the OP gives him any compensation, he'd actually be compensating the pawn shop, for whom this is simply the cost of doing business.

mccreadym

If you will read the posts I bought the bike 11 years ago and it was stolen last year. I was provided the incorrect information by the bike store I bought it from (it happens). Yes I know I should have had the serial # written down. Had I been given the correct serial # last year that would have made things a lot easier for me I wouldn't have to pay over $130 for the bike to be packed and shipped... Anyways maybe I should be blamed for locking my bike too.... Really buggered that one didn't I

MM

02Giant 

My mistake in the timeline relation, it doesn't matter. You caused the mess and continue to do so. You "have to pay over $130" because you choose to.
Again, if you provided the correct serial number to the police, the pawn shop would not have sold the bike.

I get it...through your eyes, your the only victim and with no responsibility.

shafter

Harsh! I'm glad the guy got his bike, and i don't think it matters whose "fault" it was.

Maelochs

I agree with 02Giant: The OP should go to jail for the bike shop messing up the serial number, and also have to give the bike back to the guy who purchased the stolen bike ... and reimburse the thief for calling him a "thief." Maybe he honestly mistook the OP's bike for his own.

When I read stories like this I am so outraged ... I may have to run for office so I can write and promote laws which properly protect the poor victimized thieves and painfully punish the people who enable thieves buy buying things which thieves can steal.

It is obviously entirely the OP's fault---if he hadn't bought a bike in the first place, he could never have been robbed. Obviously the OP caused the whole problem.

Stories like this just burn me up. I hate it when thieves cannot make a profit, and hate it even more when people get robbed and then think they have a right to get their stuff back.

The OP actually thinks he is the "victim" of a "crime"???? Hah. Obviously he is responsible for the theft because of what he did after the theft. He is also culpable for even owning a bike, which makes him doubly guilty. How can people not see how that makes perfect sense?

mccreadym

but seriously who pissed in O2giants coffee this morning?
Ohhhh thats right I must have

MM

indyfabz

I wish I could say that I am surprised at the turn this thread has taken. Sadly, though, I am not surprised.


With apologies to whoever wrote the script for "Chinatown": Forget it, Mccreadym, it's Bikeforums.

Yendor72

Thanks for the info. That's where I bought my Masi.

Dan Burkhart 

When I owned the bike shop, my point of sale system was set up to record the serial number of each bike sold with the customer's contact info.
At least twice that I can remember, I was able to reunite rightful owners with their bicycles thanks to people who had found the bikes abandoned, and thanks to the decal affixed near the bottom bracket with my store name and phone number.

mccreadym

They are a great chain. I have also heard good things about NOW bikes and fitness.
I will be checking out the lowertown bike shop next week. Any other shops you like around the cities? (I may be getting road bike and/or tandem in the next year or so.

MM